


Fairytale of Amun York

by crocs



Category: House of Anubis
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Sibuna Secret Santa 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-04 23:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16798972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crocs/pseuds/crocs
Summary: 'Nina — Might be a good idea to attend this,' it read. 'Seems like something you might be into!' A crudely drawn smiley face followed the message. It still smelled vaguely of scented perma-marker. Nina leant in.Apple-scented perma-marker.'(NinaFabian. Post-Series.)





	Fairytale of Amun York

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theosirianischosen](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=theosirianischosen).



> **This work is part of the Sibuna Secret Santa 2018 event!** This was created as a gift for @theosirianischosen on Tumblr, who prompted, 'HOA: Fabina reunion during the holidays, post-season 3'. Hope you enjoy!

Glumly, Nina stared at the flecks of snow that danced past her bedroom window. She sighed as the white wisps melted into the sidewalk below. The ground hadn't frozen over yet, so it had the exact same effect as if it had been raining instead. _So much for a picture-perfect December,_ she thought _._

She kicked off her hiking boots and shrugged out of her winter coat, making a beeline for the thermostat and turning it up. Almost immediately the temperature rose. The only thing that brought her core down was the ice-cold necklace around her neck but Nina categorically refused to take it off. Eddie had only just sent it back from England.

Unwinding her scarf, Nina's attention was drawn towards the stack of fliers balanced precariously on the kitchen island. A yellow post-it note was stuck on top. This wasn't an unusual event; her roommate (a part-time student at the same college she was currently earning her Masters at) often sorted through the bills and tagged any she found interesting.

 _'Nina — Might be a good idea to attend this,'_ it read. _'Seems like something you might be into!'_ A crudely drawn smiley face followed the message. It still smelled vaguely of scented perma-marker. Nina leant in. _Apple_ -scented perma-marker.

The blonde shook her head and smiled as she peeled off the note carefully. It had been covering a thin leaflet advertising a fantasy book reading by the author — something about an Egyptian Mystery About to be Unlocked and how it was Now to be a Television Show on a familiar children's network. She frowned and flipped it over. Why on earth did her roommate think she'd be interested in this? Sure, she was all about Egypt, but she definitely wasn’t into children's books. Nina preferred non-fiction. Her own life was unbelievable enough as it was.

Of course, that was when she saw the author.

A glossy picture of Fabian Rutter took up a small part of the back of the leaflet. He looked older and wiser, but his smile was still as kind as it was in high school. His hair was pushed back and to the side. He was holding up a copy of the book in one hand along with a small award in the other. Above all, he looked happy. Successful.

 _Son of a gun,_ Nina thought suddenly. This was probably payback for all the times she got tipsy and went on about her ex-boyfriend in front of her roommate. The woman probably had his name on News Alert just for this. Either that or it was an unlikely coincidence. To Nina, though, it was a good rule of thumb to assume there were no things as coincidences.

Now, what to do? Missing it would definitely lead to some ribbing and teasing and the feeling that she hadn't been able to close that chapter of her life properly, even if she herself currently considered it closed. But going to it would mean coming face to face with one of the many people she had disappeared on — possibly the person that Nina considered the most important. The fact remained that Fabian Rutter was going to be in her small college town whether she went or not. And she had no idea how to react to that.

 _There were no such things as coincidences,_ Nina reminded herself. She had nothing going on that night at all; it was a rare bout of free time that she usually spent on the couch stressing over her next assignment and watching old eighties tv shows on the Internet. And, flipping the leaflet over, Nina realised she was embarrassingly close to where it was going to be held. Her own college, in one of the larger buildings. Briefly, she wondered what that meant about the expected turnout.

She had no excuse not to go. Not really.

So that was how Nina found herself walking across the quad towards the Leakey Building holding a cup of joe and faking confidence in her step. She'd never found the want to actually live on campus, both here and during her undergrad degree. Too much noise — and, plus, the last time she'd lived at a school she had nearly been killed by a megalomaniac twice.

She couldn't deny how pretty it all looked in the winter haze, however. Evidently, the ground over at the college had managed to freeze itself over, and all of the roofs had as well; a blanket of white covered the usually green surfaces and a group of undergrads were engaged in an intense snowball fight to her right. Nina stopped, leant over and hitched up her boots, barely missing a glob of snow sailing across her back. For a second she froze, before straightening back up again and carrying on.

Leakey was one of the oldest places that made up the college's campus. It was also the one that had been updated the most recently. Most of the older buildings on campus were cold and draughty, but even without the recent renovation over the summer the Leakey Building had always felt warm and cosy to Nina. It reminded her of the old library at Amun Academy, except much larger and with a bigger selection of books. It didn't surprise her that Fabian was reading his book there. He always had loved libraries, the bigger the better.

Finally reaching the brownstone, Nina pushed her way in though the two double doors. Half of the small corridor that opened up into the main hall had been decorated with a tall standee showing the artwork from the cover of Fabian's book. A teenage girl stood with her back to the cover, a golden chalice in her hand. A large school building looked over her and dark silhouettes looked out from each window. A familiar eye design was spray painted onto the gravel the girl was standing on. Nina just barely stopped herself from reaching up to grab her own necklace and instead took a sip of her coffee.

 _Write what you know,_ she supposed. _It wasn't as if the design was copyrighted._

Turning, Nina ducked into the main hall. Most of the seats had already been filled. People of all ages — children, grandparents, young adults and people her own age — were sat, ready to listen. Maybe she was wrong about it just being a kid's book. Slipping into the seat at the end of the back row, Nina gave a brittle smile towards the person sitting next to her before slouching down. There were only a few more minutes to wait until it actually started, but already she could barely see the empty chair that Fabian would be sitting on over the heads of everyone else.

Getting out her phone, Nina swiped through the text messages she'd missed. Her landlord was stressing out about his wife's pregnancy and her gran had found yet another funny cat video compilation online and had decided to send it to her. Biting her lip, she sent off a reassuring message to him and saved the cat video for later. A ripple of applause ripped through the audience and Nina jumped in her seat, looking up from her phone.

Fabian, escorted by two burly looking security guards, had made his way out through a side door. Frozen, Nina stared as he gave a slightly dorky wave and sat down at the desk they'd given him. From his bag, he fished out a slightly battered copy of the book he was advertising. He coughed to clear his throat.

Fabian smiled. "My name is Fabian Rutter," he announced, "though I’m assuming you all know that, seeing as you're here tonight. Unless you've been dragged along by a _great_ friend —" laughter started up around her and just as quickly died down — "all of you have supported and read the adventures of Sarah and her friends. For that, I'm incredibly grateful."

Fabian moved away from the microphone and took a swig of bottled water.

"Unfortunately for us, her journey ended last year. But there will always be new stories to be told, and that's why I’m glad to be reading to you the first few chapters about the next hero in this universe. Maybe you've already picked up a copy, but I hope you're willing to hear it again. And for those who haven't, well…" he chuckled. "I hope you'll be surprised, at least."

Cracking open the spine of the old copy, Fabian leant forward.

 _"'To my very own Chosen One,'"_ he read aloud. _"'Chapter One: House of Arrivals. Katie could barely see the boy that was staring at her over the boxes she was carrying, though she did get the feeling he would be considered conventionally attractive to any other girl…'"_

Nina forced herself to swallow as he continued to read. It felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees. Slowly, silently, she slid out of her seat. For once, she was appreciative that you couldn't see everything from the front of the hall; Nina couldn’t bear it if he saw her walk out on him again with no explanation. But she couldn't be here, not now. She just couldn't.

Cursing, Nina all but ran out of the building. What was wrong with her? What was so awful that she couldn't even see her ex-boyfriend without having a crisis? She quickly walked across the quad, flashing her student ID and exiting the campus. Nina swiped at her eyes and crossed the street to one of the coffee shops that lined the other side. Breathing in, she opened the door and went inside.

Her roommate waved at her from the counter before beckoning her over into a hug as Nina started sobbing.

"I couldn't do it," she confessed, almost hyperventilating. "I just — I couldn't — "

"Hey, it's okay," soothed KT. "I'm going to get you another coffee and you're going to sit down and tell me everything."

She lead her to one of the bar stools facing the shop counter and Nina slumped down onto her hands. She sighed. "What would I do without you?"

"Waste away with your nine cats," KT said, pouring her a cup. "Spill."

"There's nothing to say," Nina said, taking a huge gulp and hissing. "Darn, that's hot. Anyway, I just sat down for the book reading thingy and I started crying and I had to leave. Ugh."

"Okay, A, I'm so sorry, I didn't think you'd actually go," replied her roommate, and Nina snorted wetly. "And B — at least you went and saw him. What a crazy coincidence he was here, right?"

"There are no such things as coincidences," Nina replied, but her heart wasn't in it. "The heavens were conspiring against me for dumping him in a letter. There's no other explanation." The doorway shop bell rang. "And another thing — what are you looking at?"

"Speak of the devil," murmured KT, and turned towards the customer that had just walked in. "Fabian Rutter, what are you doing in our little college hamlet?"

A familiar male voice chuckled. "KT, you don't have to pretend that you and Eddie didn't strong arm me into coming here on my tour, though I'm still not sure why." Nina stared at KT as she made a frantic cut-it-out gesture at Fabian. "What?"

Dropping all pretences, Nina swivelled on her seat to face her ex-boyfriend and her roommate at the same time. "Am I getting this right? You guys _know_ each other? And Eddie?"

KT flushed. "It's a… holiday miracle…"

Fabian blinked at her. "…Nina?"

"Like you didn't already know I was here," she replied reproachfully. Then she took in his confused look and reconsidered. "You _didn't_ already know I was here?"

" _No_ ," he stressed. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Rush."

Nina nodded as KT laughed awkwardly. "Hah. I think I hear my boss calling me, actually. Can't quite hear her. Have to head to the back." The duo watched her escape into the kitchens and looked at each other, smiles falling off of their faces.

"I'm sorry," she offered, though she didn't elaborate on what it was for.

Fabian smiled sadly. "I got over it," he said. "We're both adults. No need to dwell." He cleared his throat. "Your hair looks nice."

"Thanks," she replied, genuinely touched. "You look well."

From up close, Nina could tell that the picture in the leaflet had to have been taken a while ago. Small streaks of distinguished grey were peppered through his brown hair. Laughter lines had settled further into the creases in his forehead and around his eyes. Despite that, though, he still looked youthful — like he could still beat her in a game of Senet any day of the week. "So, Eddie?"

Fabian blushed. "We both work for the British Museum," he indulged. "Ancient Egyptian collection. KT?"

"Answered my Craigslist ad for a roommate," Nina answered. "We're both at the college, so it works out. You know she doesn't have a boss to answer to, right? She's just hiding in the back."

Fabian snorted softly. They sat in a weird silence for a moment, drinking it all in.

"You're on a tour, then?"

"Yeah, fully published author," he said, pride in his voice. "I mostly write Mythology-based YA, but I branch out sometimes. I just finished a series, actually. Paragon of Anubis."

"Write what you know?" she teased. Well, it couldn't hurt to know for sure.

"Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction," replied Fabian, smiling. "We've actually got a TV show in the works. You could come along to auditions, if you like. I probably need another eye."

Nina shrugged. "I'm so sorry, because that sounds amazing, but I have my studies. I'm sure it'll turn out great, though."

"Third times a charm," he commented, crossing his fingers over in the air. "The network already ported it to Belgium and the Netherlands a couple of years ago, so I'm trusting them with the English version. A couple of plot points are gonna be scrapped, but I'm not too upset about that."

She nodded. "Hopefully the US'll see it too. It sounds interesting."

"I'd like to think so."

Nina’s gaze suddenly took in the clock on the wall behind Fabian's shoulder. It was getting late, and if Nina wanted to get back to her car without seeing a yellow ticket on the window she had to get going.

"Oh, geez, the time! I'm so sorry, I have to get back to my apartment." She rushed off the bar stool and over to the door, before looking back to her slightly windswept ex-boyfriend. "Thanks, Fabian. It's been really good getting to see you again."

"You too, Nina, but, uh…" Bemused, Fabian pointed to the space above her head. Nina looked up and sighed.

Mistletoe. Son of a gun, KT. She smiled awkwardly as Fabian walked over. He took her hands in his and bit his lip, looking upwards himself. His blue eyes flicked back down to her own and his laughter lines creased deeper.

"Happy holidays, Nina Martin."

"Happy holidays, Fabian Rutter," Nina replied, before surging forward to kiss him against the backdrop of swirling snow.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Fic title adapted from The Pogues' _Fairytale of New York_. Thank you for reading!


End file.
